Posted on 12/07/2011 7:48:31 AM PST by Just4Him
According to data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare has spent more than $240 million of taxpayer money on penis pumps for elderly men over the past decade, and will surpass a quarter of a billion dollars this year for costs since 2001.
The cost to taxpayers for the pumps more than quadrupled during that period, from a low of $11 million in 2001 to a high of more than $47 million in 2010. And these represent only the costs for external devices, technically classified as Male Vacuum Erection Systems, not implantable devices or oral drugs such as Viagra.
Easy to Qualify
In order to obtain a pump, according to CMSs Local Coverage Determination (LCD) revised in October this year, the patients medical record must contain sufficient documentation of the patients medical condition to substantiate the necessity for the type and quantity of items ordered, noting erectile dysfunction (ED) can commonly occur in men in the Medicare age group.
The National Institutes of Health previously estimated between 15 percent and 25 percent of 65-year-old men experience ED on a long-term basis, which the LCD notes may be caused by diabetes, other endocrine abnormalities, vascular abnormalities, trauma, neurogenic, psychogenic, side effects of many medications, and other causes. The Cleveland Clinic also points to psychological factors, such as stress, depression, and performance anxiety as possible causes.
If a medical exam and history shows a senior on Medicare meets the relevant thresholda diagnosis of EDhe becomes eligible for a wide range of options under the Medicare Prosthetic benefit. Treatment Options covered by Medicare include oral medications, pharmacological injections, intra-urethral suppositories, vacuum erection devices, and implantable penile pumps.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.heartland.org ...
...and every one of them sent to Harry Reid’s house in Nevada.
LMAO
No wonder the incidence of STDs in The Villages of Florida is so high.
No Penis Pumps No Peace No Penis Pumps No Peace No Penis Pumps No Peace !!!
Someone is always getting screwed with this administration...
or Slick Willie’s house, I suppose it is just part of their retirement perks.
Amputation would be cheaper.
Lorena Bobbitt, please pick up the phone.
The taxpayers need you.
It’s good to know that the Democrats refused to give any increase to Veterans Disability over the last two years. I mean it wasn’t like they were buying penis pumps or something stupid like that.
Really glad I bought all that penis pump stock!
You just better hope it's not one of those "pump and dump" stocks.
I hear that stadiums are using them as revenue enhancements to make regular hot dogs into footlong hot dogs they can sell for twice the price.
"I've fallen and I can't get (it) up!"
I’m sure that the “Fluffers Guild” is outraged....
All your penis pumps are belong to us.
Isn't that what Dingy Harry uses to keep himself standing upright?
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